FTC wants to expand coverage of children's privacy rule

New entities covered by the proposed changes would include online advertising networks and software plug-ins

By Grant Gross | 01 August 12

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has proposed to add online advertising networks and makers of browser plug-ins to the entities required to get parental permission when they collect and use personal information on websites targeted at children.

The FTC on Wednesday published proposed changes to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, a set of regulations that require websites targeted at children to get parental permission before collecting personal data and allows parents to prohibit the sites from sharing that information with third parties.

The rule was required in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which the U.S. Congress passed in 2000.

The proposed changes are an attempt to "to keep current with technology advances," the FTC said in a press release.

The FTC proposal aims partly at targeted advertising services that collect personal information in order to deliver relevant ads to Internet users. The proposal would expand entities covered by the rule from websites and online services directed at children to include advertising networks and software plug-ins collecting personal information integrated with those sites and services.

In addition, the proposed changes would include ad networks and plug-ins as covered by the rule if they know or have reason to believe they are collecting personal information from children through child-directed websites and services.

The changes would also change the way websites and services that contain child-oriented content treat visitors. The existing rule requires the sites to treat all visitors, even adults, as if they were under age 13 for purposes of the rule, but the new proposal would allow websites to screen visitors by age and provide the extra privacy protections only to children.

However, child-directed sites or services that knowingly target children under 13 as their primary audience or whose overall content is likely to attract children under age 13 as their primary audience must still treat all users as children, the FTC said.

Common Sense Media, an advocacy group focused on protecting children online, praised the proposed changes. "The FTC's recommendations are crucial steps toward keeping the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act up-to-date in a rapidly changing online and mobile world," CEO James Steyer said in a statement. "The digital world is constantly changing, but the goal of empowering parents to protect their children remains the same."

The FTC is seeking public comment on the proposals.

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is [email protected]

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